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A Handbook of British Birds.



British birds, produced throughout by able writers, this up-to-date

and practical work consists of a series of keys for the identification

of the various species and subspecies, together with brief accounts of

the plumage in various stages, of measurements, field characters,

breeding habits, nest, eggs, and so forth. Special attention, indeed,

has been given to the varying stages of plumage ; ornithologists the

world over will appreciate the immense trouble that has been taken

in working up, so thoroughly, this complicated and difficult section.

The work is prefaced with a good introduction, a glossary, a scale of

measurements, and some carefully executed drawings. The entire

book is issued in eighteen parts, of which the first two, now before us,

deal with Crows, Starlings, Finches, and some of the Buntings. As

evidencing the care with which the writers have worked, we mention

the plate facing p. 16, showing the gradual change in the feathering

of the head of the Rook, illustrated by thirteen specimens. The

coloured plates are delightful; as, for instance, that which shows the

juvenal plumage of various Finches, the feathers being rendered with

exquisite softness and beauty; or Mr. Davies’ family of Crossbills,

every detail set in hard clear outline against a pale-blue sky ; or

Mr. Gronvold’s series of Bunting heads, each one a perfect study in

itself, clear-cut and brilliant, a veritable Nature cameo.


We recommend the authors to revise the legend below the

upper figure on p. xiv of the introduction ; for in spite of the drawing

accompanying it, the term “ base of the skull ” is anatomically

incorrect when applied to the root of the beak, an essentially anterior

structure; the term “ glabellum ” exists ready made, and should

have been employed here. In the glossary we were surprised to note

the omission of any reference to the tomium, though the clumsy term

“ cutting edges of the hill ” is carefully enshrined and moreover

explained. Although the lores is illustrated in the diagram on p. xvi,

there is no mention of it in the glossary. Part I, which we are

expressly told has been brought up to date, mentions the bird studies

of “ Mr. ” Eagle Clarke. It was news to learn that the term

“ melanism ” includes the abnormal presence of “ very dark-coloured ”

plumage—a condition to which we had thought the term “ phasism ”

had long been universally applied.



G. R.



